Olympus or The Triumph of Venus

Tiepolo's Olympus or The Triumph of Venus, painted in 1761 as part of his work for the Royal Palace in Madrid, is a late masterpiece of his secular decorative output. By this date Tiepolo was working for the Spanish court as its principal painter, producing ceiling frescoes and altarpieces on a grand scale. The Triumph of Venus — the goddess of love received in triumph among the Olympian gods — was an ideal subject for celebrating aristocratic pleasure and the power of beauty.

The celestial assembly is depicted in the swirling aerial arrangement Tiepolo had mastered over decades of ceiling fresco work. Venus is borne through the Olympian clouds by a retinue of divine and semi-divine figures, all rendered in his warm, luminous late palette. The figures' poses are inventively varied and their movement convincingly suspended in aerial space.